Stuck in the Middle
by Arpad Hrunta
Summary: Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Torres get in a fight, and Harry Kim is stuck in the middle. My first fanfic, written back in 1998.
1. Chapter 1

_[Author's Initial Note: I wrote this in 1998, and originally posted on alt . startrek . creative . It was my first fanfic (which probably shows), followed by a thirteen-year hiatus. It takes place shortly after "Timeless", in season 5. I'll have some thoughts in an author's note at the end.]_

Disclaimer: Paramount/Viacom knows all, sees all, owns all, except for this story. Ave Paramount, scriturus te salutat!

* * *

The doors to the Astrometrics lab swished open, and Ensign Harry Kim strode in, trying to look confident and being largely successful at it. He saw Seven of Nine at her work station, her back turned to him, and was just about to address her when she spoke.

"Ensign Kim, what do you want?" She didn't turn around to see if it was actually Harry that she was addressing.

Harry smiled. Her words may have sounded harsh to others, but he knew her well enough to know that there was no malice intended in her blunt words. "How did you know it was me, Seven?"

"The pattern of your footfalls is distinctive, Ensign. After a year of working with you, I have naturally learned to identify them." She continued her work, still not bothering to turn around. "What do you wish to speak about?"

Harry cleared his throat. "I was hoping you'd join me for dinner tonight, but when I went to the messhall you weren't there. So I came to see what you were doing, and if you weren't too busy to join me anyway." He hoped his voice didn't betray any anxiety. He thought he had been getting better at acting calmly around her, but he just found her so beautiful that it was still a struggle at times, especially when he was asking her things she considered 'irrelevant'.

"You could have spoken to me over the comm, Ensign. It is inefficient to make an unnecessary journey." Before he could interrupt her with a response, she continued, "However, as you are here, if you assist me in taking these readings, we should be done in approximately twelve minutes. Then I will join you for dinner, as I have not eaten in several hours and require sustenance." She turned to look at him to gauge his reaction.

Harry grinned. She was becoming more comfortable in his presence, and they had been dining together semi-regularly in the messhall for several weeks now. He had yet to ask her to a private dinner in his quarters or the holodeck, but was going to soon. He wanted to take things slowly with Seven so she wouldn't be scared off, or worse, totally misinterpret him like she had that evening in the messhall a year before, something they had not discussed since, much to his eternal relief.

"Sure, Seven. Move over, and I'll give you a hand."

A hint of a smile passed over her lips when she saw him grinning. She knew that his happiness was irrelevant, or would have been in the Borg collective she used to belong to, but a part of her enjoyed seeing him grin anyway. That part of her caused her to smile, something she rarely did, and only seemed to do in response to the Ensign. It was unnecessary, but she couldn't help it. He always smiled even more when he saw her face soften. She liked his smile, despite herself.

As they worked, Harry began another of his 'irrelevant fraternizations' which his companion objected to less that she used to. Seven would deny she was becoming more 'human' when asked, but would offer the reason that she was adapting to the ways of Voyager. That was good enough for Harry.

"So, Seven, why are you working late? Did something come up, or were you just not as efficient as you expected during the day?" He grinned at her.

She gave him a hard look that would have made Harry think he offended her had he not noticed the twinkle in her eye. "Hardly. Lieutenant Torres asked me to assist her in engineering today, so that is why we are working late. I am efficient as always."

"Of course."

They finished their work in Astrometrics in the time Seven of Nine had predicted, and were just turning to head to the messhall when B'Elanna Torres burst in. Voyager's Chief Engineer marched furiously up to the former Borg and began shout at her.

"Why the hell can't you just do what you're told, Seven? I give you specific orders to adjust the power flow to Astrometrics *only*, and you go and mess with my whole damn power system!"

Seven's voice was cool calm as she responded, but just as full of venom in her own way. "I did not 'mess with' the power system, Lieutenant. I increased our power efficiency by point seven percent."

B'Elanna's Klingon temper began to take over. She went from being merely furiously angry at Seven to seething with rage at the former Borg. "Yes, and your damned 'efficiency' would have blown out the entire replicator system if hadn't noticed it before I completed the other modifications I planned! It took me two hours to undo what you did!"

Seven was not going to back down. "If you had informed me of the other modifications you were planning..."

"Ha! I am the Chief Engineer! I don't need to 'inform' you of what I'm doing! When I tell you do make a specific modification, you make it. If you want to do anything else to my ship, you ask me."

"It is not *your* ship, Lieutenant. It is the Captain's."

B'Elanna gave Seven a look of death and was about to shout something at her when Harry intervened. "Now, Seven, B'Elanna is in charge of the engineering functions of the ship, so when you want to go beyond her orders, maybe you should..."

Seven didn't let him finish. "This does not concern you, Ensign."

"It's always my concern when my friends fight." Seven softened a little at this. She knew that he and Lieutenant Torres were friends, but Harry had never actually called Seven a friend before, although she considered him her best friend on board Voyager. "And B'Elanna, you know how Seven likes to take the initiative. Maybe if you would just tell her more of what you intend, you two wouldn't have this... this friction."

"Harry, you can't reason with this drone!"

Harry and Seven responded simultaneously.

"I am not a drone."

"She's not a drone, B'Elanna. You know that."

B'Elanna gave Harry a fierce look. "Sure, Harry. Defend that Borg bimbo over one of your oldest friends."

Seven raised an eyebrow. "'Bimbo'?" She didn't recognize the term.

Harry did, however. He learned it from the same place B'Elanna had - his best friend, and her lover, Tom Paris, the pilot of Voyager and a historian of the twentieth-century. It referred to Seven being blonde, buxom, and beautiful, and implied a vacuous quality that both Harry and B'Elanna knew was completely wrong. It had been said to hurt, although it did not hurt Seven, who was oblivious to its pejorative use, even if she understood the tone of voice that the half-Klingon woman used. It hurt Harry, as B'Elanna intended. He hated it when anyone attacked Seven, for whom Harry had some very strong feelings. Strong feelings that were obvious to those around him, and that B'Elanna was totally opposed to. She didn't want to she her friend get hurt by someone she saw as an unfeeling automaton.

"Don't call Seven a 'bimbo', B'Elanna," he said in a low, even voice.

B'Elanna's anger was piqued. She let out a sharp laugh at her friend. "Harry, it's so *sweet*", she said venomously, "the way you defend Seven, and your little crush on her would be even more nauseating if there was any chance she'd even return it. When are you going to see she's an drone through and through, who's never going to think you're anything other than an irrelevant inefficient annoyance, or a lab rat for her little experiments in 'human interaction'? You're in love with a machine!"

Harry's face turned to a mixture of hurt and anger, and B'Elanna immediately regretted her harsh words, something she rarely did when she got angry.

"I can't believe you." Harry said quietly.

Seven saw how he was hurting and decided she had to defend him the way he defended her earlier. "I would never use Harry as a 'lab rat'." She noticed how his first name had slipped out, but barrelled on anyway. Her face took an a cloudy expression as she continued, and her voice was far more uneasy than it usually was. "And Ensign Kim does not have a 'crush' on me, Lieutenant. He specifically denied to me that he was in love with me the night I asked him to copulate in the mess hall."

B'Elanna laughed inadvertently at this, and Harry's eyes went wide as he spun to face Seven. "How could you tell her about that?" he shouted. He then turned and marched out of Astrometrics, shouting, "I cannot believe you two!"

"Ensign Kim!" Seven shouted after him, but he continued walking away. She turned to B'Elanna, forgetting their argument, and asked evenly, "Why did Ensign Kim leave so abruptly, Lieutenant? We were going to go to the messhall for dinner."

B'Elanna just stared in horrified amazement at the ex-Borg. "You really don't get it, do you?" She then turned and stomped off as well.

Seven of Nine was left standing alone in Astrometrics, trying to understand what had just gone on. She seemed to have a knack for annoying Lieutenant Torres, but up until this point, had never had a similar effect on Ensign Kim. She found she didn't like the way he looked when he left her. She decided to contemplate this as she went to dine in the messhall, although she did not expect to find Ensign Kim there waiting for her.

If there were anyone else in Astrometrics at the time, they would have been surprised to hear the ex-Borg, Seven of Nine, let out a small sigh.

* * *

Harry Kim was still fuming when he entered his quarters and collapsed on his couch. He found he was unable to stay motionless for long, however. He was so angry at the both of them that he could taste it, and to work off some of that anger he got up and began slowly pacing across the room, and back again. His pacing did little to abate his anger, however.

Things were just starting to go well with Seven, too. That was the ironic thing. Just when he thought there was some hope in sight for him and Seven, that stupid fight between her and B'Elanna had to happen.

He never enjoyed it when B'Elanna and Seven fought, as he always felt stuck in the middle. Normally, though, he could handle it. Tonight, he actually put himself in the middle of it, and paid the price. B'Elanna, his dearest friend on the ship other than Tom, had taken her temper out on him when he tried to help her and Seven coming to some kind of working agreement. And she belittled him in front of Seven, and told her he loved her.

It was true, he knew, although he hadn't really thought of it that way before. He knew he liked Seven, and wanted to romance her, but he hadn't thought of it as love. Love, real romantic love was something he had only felt for Libby. He didn't any more, and though he was saddened somewhat when the message from his parents via the array had mentioned Libby's new engagement, he wasn't crushed. He was actually relieved, glad that Libby had moved on with her life. He didn't want the woman he once loved, was once his fiancee, to live her life waiting for him to come back to her, when there was not much chance that would happen before he was an old man. He didn't want her to use him as a reason not to try and be happy.

Now, however, Harry thought about it. 'Of course I'm in love with Seven', he realized. He loved spending time with her, and was always finding new excuses to do so, although he had to do considerably less work to enjoy her company now that they were regular dinner companions in the mess hall. He wanted to protect her, to keep her out of harm's way. That was impossible on Voyager, and it ate away at his insides like acid sometimes, but he still wanted to keep her safe. He knew he would die to protect her. He also thought one of the ways he had to protect her was to not let her know his feelings for her. She was too new to humanity, too new to her emotions, for any kind of revelation on his part to be easy for her. She needed time to adjust to her new life, and she needed a helping hand along the way. She  
needed a friend, the kind of friend Harry knew he could be. He hoped one day that she would let him be the lover, the companion, and the soulmate that Harry also knew he could be, but not yet. He loved her, and for her sake, she couldn't know that. Not yet.

The Voyager rumour mill, however, had loudly claimed for a year that he was madly in love with Seven. Harry was quite aware of this, and the looks he got from his crewmates whenever he was with Seven made him completely uncomfortable. He had hoped that Seven was too unfamiliar with human interactions to pick up on that, but the rational side of Harry's mind told him, 'yeah, right, Harry. Her Borg-enhanced senses can detect your pupils dilating. They'd be able to notice the snickers of your crewmates'. But he could comfort himself with the belief that the rumour mill probably didn't reach Seven, and she might be unaware.

But B'Elanna changed all that.

Of course, Harry realized, she was right. The chances of Seven having any affection at all for him, other than as a comforting 'predictable' crewmate, were infinitesimally small. 'Of course, if I ask, Seven could tell me just how small those chance are, and to what astronomical degree it was irrelevant' he thought bitterly. At least they had been friends, even if he never actually told her he considered her a friend. And now...

Now she knew how he felt. Now she would consider him a burden. Now she would never let him close to her.

As Harry's mind raced through his deepest fears, another part of him, the part that lived in hope he would return home sooner than later, the part that smiled at everyone he met, the part that befriended the outcasts, told him a different story. 'She cares about you, Harry. She tried to defend you to B'Elanna. You are the only one she's ever smiled at.'

Harry's hope, however, was drowned in his mind by the ongoing torrent of his fear. The woman he loved was going to hate him. She told B'Elanna about the night in the mess hall. It would be all over the ship in the morning, and then -

** Torres to Kim ** B'Elanna the intercom, interrupting his stream of consciousness. Harry ignored it. He didn't want to deal with B'Elanna at the moment. Not after what she had done.

** Torres to Kim ** she repeated after a few minutes.

Continuing to ignore her, Harry went to his dresser, took his clarinet and began to play, continuing to pace all the while, as therapy for his troubled soul. Making music had always calmed him down, and he felt like he needed calm more than eve before at this moment.

B'Elanna, however, was persistent. Her voice came over the intercom again. ** Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to blurt out... what I said to Seven. I was just so angry I couldn't control it. I know you probably need to cool off, but please talk to me. Torres out. **

Harry was taken slightly aback. B'Elanna was rarely apologetic, and this was one of those moments. He was considering hailing her, but then he remembered what she said. What she told Seven. He went back to his music.

About half an hour later, he was hailed again. ** Seven of Nine to Ensign Kim **. He couldn't talk to Seven. He just couldn't. She hailed him again, but he ignored her just like he ignored B'Elanna.

Five minutes after that, his doorbell rang. The voice he longed to and dreaded hearing spoke to him through the door. "Ensign Kim, please open the door. You did not meet me in the mess hall like you said you would."

Realizing Seven could easily override the privacy lock on his door and march in, he walked over to it and shouted, "Leave me alone, Seven."

Her Borg focus carried her on. Her voice, however, was sounded less confident than it usually did. "You are behaving irrationally, Ensign. Perhaps-"

Harry cut her off. "I don't want to talk, Seven. Please go away." He expected to her to march right inside anyway, but he heard boots walking away from his door, instead.

He hated himself for treating her this way, but he knew he couldn't deal with her at the moment. He couldn't let her in and hear her destroy his hopes and dreams by telling him she didn't feel anything for him. He knew those hopes were ruined, but he didn't want to hear it. Not yet.

He stayed up playing his clarinet for a long time trying to work out his pain. Ensign Baytart's occasional poundings on the wall were studiously ignored.

* * *

Seven of Nine contemplated many things facets of her existence in Cargo Bay two that evening. She contemplated her friction with Lieutenant Torres. She contemplated how to further improve the efficiency of the Astrometrics sensors. She contemplated the collapsed Hirogen communications array and what it meant for Voyager. She looked at the alcove One had regenerated in and contemplated her lost 'son'. She contemplated the Doctor's latest efforts to improve her social skills.

Most of all, she contemplated Ensign Kim. She contemplated his refusal to speak with her, and the events that caused it. She contemplated Lieutenant Torres' claim that he loved her. She contemplated how he was the only crewmember who made her smile. She contemplated the possibility that he would avoid her in the future.

As she regenerated in her alcove, her face did not bear the expression of an efficient Borg drone, confident that all problems could be overcome with efficiency and that order could be brought to the universe. It bore the expression of a troubled young woman, wracked with fear at what she might lose.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, a very tired Harry Kim walked into the mess hall to get breakfast. He saw Tom and B'Elanna sitting at their usual table, eating. B'Elanna waved at him to come over and join her and Tom, as Harry usually did. Harry, on the other hand, was still annoyed at B'Elanna for her fight with Seven, and subsequent fight with him, last night. He wasn't as mad as he was last night at her, but he didn't really want to have to deal with her at the moment. Instead, he just waved back at his friends, and went to see Neelix to get something to eat.

Neelix, Voyager's Talaxian morale officer, chef, and ambassador, greeted Harry in his usual cheerful manner. "Hello, Ensign, and how are you this fine morning?"

Harry gave Neelix a little smile. It was hard not to do so around the perpetually happy chef. "Awful, actually."

"Care to talk about it, Harry?" Neelix inquired with genuine concern in his voice.

Harry shook his head. "Thanks, Neelix, but I really don't want to talk to anyone about it."

"Some other time, maybe."

"Maybe. What do you have for breakfast?"

Neelix showed Harry his breakfast selections. "We have scrambled eggs, an assortment of fruit from Vehar II, and my breakfast specialty, whipped pilarbra tubers au gratin." He looked dejected for a moment. "No one seems to want the tubers."

Despite his foul mood, Harry wanted to cheer Neelix up a little. His concoctions were often bizarre, and some were downright inedible, especially those which involved the words 'leola root', but Neelix always put a lot of effort into his cooking. It could be surprisingly good. "I'll try the tubers, Neelix."

The Talaxian cheered up immediately. Handing Harry a plate full of whipped tubers and a glass of juice, he patted Harry on the arm and said, "I'm sure you'll enjoy them Harry. Have a good day!"

Harry took his tray, and now had to decide where to sit. He really didn't want to go and sit with Tom and B'Elanna. Vorik was sitting alone, reading a padd, but Harry wasn't really in the mood to engage in the conversational curiosities Vulcans sometimes got involved in. He saw Sue Nicoletti, the Delaney sisters, and Crewman Jeffrey Schmidt from Security sitting together and chatting. Sue Nicoletti caught his gaze and smiled at him, something she had been doing a lot lately at their music practices. Other than himself, she was the most accomplished musician on the ship, her instrument being the oboe. Sitting with them would be a change of pace, but it might make B'Elanna think he was trying to spite her, and he wasn't. He knew he really wanted to eat alone, so he flashed a smile at Sue, and sat at an empty table on the other side of the mess hall from Tom and B'Elanna.

He tried a mouthful of Neelix's tubers. There were coloured a bright royal blue, which Harry found a little disturbing. The consistency was not terribly enjoyable, being similar to mashed turnips, but the taste was something else. The tubers themselves tasted similar to cinnamon, which combined in a strange but pleasing manner with the cheese Neelix added to make a really enjoyable dish. He turned around and tried to catch the Neelix's eye, and when he had done so, gave him a hearty 'thumbs up'. Neelix beamed at him, and Harry heard him tell his next diner, to "try the tubers, Ensign Kim really likes them". Attacking his breakfast with renewed vigour, Harry thought that maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.

The doors to the mess hall opened with a swoosh, and in stepped Seven of Nine. She saw Harry sitting alone and made a beeline straight for him.

Harry looked up, as if towards the heavens. 'Just had to prove me wrong, didn't you?' he thought.

"Ensign Kim, may I join you for breakfast?" she asked in her level voice.

'Yes!' screamed his heart. 'Yes, of course you want her to join you!' His mind refused to listen. "Actually, Seven, I'm nearly finished my food, and was just about to go on duty." It was the first excuse to say 'no' he could think of.

She turned and looked at the messhall chronometer. "It is 0720 hours. Alpha shift does not begin until 0800 hours, therefore you have forty minutes." There was an unsettling pause before she resumed, "I would like to discuss something with you, Ensign."

He looked down at his half-eaten tubers. "I'd really rather eat alone, Seven," he said quietly, and looked up to her, almost pleading.

She looked at him strangely. "You have never wished to eat alone before, Ensign." Looking at him, and seeing no response forthcoming, she continued. "Very well, Ensign. I will let you eat alone. Good day." She turned away and walked over to Neelix to get some food of her own.

'Fool!' shouted his heart at his brain. 'You myopic fool!' Harry suddenly lost his appetite, and toyed with his food. He overheard Neelix use his 'Ensign Kim really liked them' line to plug his tubers to Seven, and heard Seven agree to try them. He watched her sit down at a table between where Harry was sitting and where Tom and B'Elanna were, and couldn't help notice her reaction to her breakfast. Her right eyebrow raised after the first bite, and she ate them with a slightly more enthusiastic bent than she did most other foods.

Harry knew the only reason he noticed this was due to the time he had spent with her. Time he was convinced would end if he let her have a conversation with him. He was certain than since B'Elanna had let it slip to Seven that he was in love with the ex-Borg, Seven would terminate their 'association', which was a friendship that Harry highly valued. Part of him thought Seven valued it too, but he still believed she would end it as an irrelevant burden.

He toyed with his tubers some more.

He was interrupted from his fidgeting by a shadow passing over his plate. Harry looked up. It was Tom Paris, his best friend on board. "Mind if I sit down?"

Harry hesitated.

"I'll be brief, Harry," Tom continued, sitting down. He looked over at Seven of Nine, sitting alone, finishing off her tubers. "So, she eats the same breakfast as you, eh Harry?"

"Tom..."

Tom held up his hands. "All right, all right." Continuing to look at Seven, he said, "At least B'Elanna doesn't feel like the only one you're rejecting. She told me what happened, Harry. She's sorry, you know. She didn't mean to tell Seven -"

Harry shot Tom a look.

Tom saw his friend's warning. " - what she did. You don't hate her, do you Harry?"

The younger man set down his fork and looked Tom straight in the eye. "Of course not, Tom. B'Elanna's my friend." He dropped his gaze again. "Just because she ruined my life doesn't mean I don't like her any more. I just need some time."

"She didn't ruin your life, Harry." Tom looked apologetic now. "Look, you know how she gets. In some weird, misguided, confrontational Klingon way, she was trying to protect you, Har." He sounded almost wistful at that. Tom liked B'Elanna's 'weird confrontational Klingon' half more than she herself did.

"Yeah, I know, Tom," Harry replied. "But did she have to do it in front of Seven? Now Seven's going to want nothing to do with me!"

"If that were the case, would she still come over and talk with you this morning?"

"Maybe."

Tom sighed. He was having a hard time reaching his friend. "Just talk to B'Elanna sometime. Same thing with Seven. O.K.?"

Harry gave in and looked at his friend. "All right."

Tom smiled at that. It was a start, at least. "Pool at Sandrine's, tomorrow, 2000 hours? Just the two of us?"

It was Harry's turn to smile. "You know it, buddy," he said, mimicking Tom's voice.

Tom got up and walked over to his lover, but looked back at Harry and said, "You know I'm right, don't you?"

Harry just nodded, and went back to his tubers.

* * *

He filled his day with work. Using procedures as a suit of armour, he tried to be the perfect officer on the bridge that day. He was crisp and efficient. He did what he was told, offered suggestions when they were necessary, but never said anything frivolous, not even his usual banter with Tom. Tuvok approved of this side of Ensign Kim.

It never occurred to Harry that he was doing exactly was Seven of Nine did to protect herself from her emotions.

* * *

That evening, he managed to forget his trouble with an intensive practice session with Sue Nicoletti. He turned to his music for release again, and convinced Sue to extend their session by a full hour. He then returned to his quarters and took his frustrations out with his clarinet again. Baytart next door resolved to switch shifts to try and work the night shift for the next little while.

* * *

The second morning in the messhall after his confrontation with B'Elanna and Seven went more smoothly than the first. B'Elanna waved and smiled at him, and he waved and smiled back. He was glad she knew he didn't hate her (how could he? she was too good a friend), and also glad she seemed to accept he needed some time to himself. Neelix's special was leola hash browns, so Harry just had fruit that day. He did request that Neelix make whipped pilarbra tubers au gratin sometime soon. Sue Nicoletti came over with some suggestions for their next performance. Pablo Baytart came over and asked him to "work out his damned problems with something other than that bloody clarinet." Four years as Harry's neighbour had made him aware of Harry's form of therapy. Baytart's suggestion was origami.

Seven of Nine did not show up in the mess hall while Harry was there. For that, Harry was grateful.

* * *

That afternoon, Seven of Nine was crouched under the main control console in the Astrometrics lab, wiping the sweat from her brow. Trying to increase power efficiency under Lieutenant Torres' "parameters" was a frustrating job. She thought the job would be easier if she had some help. Only one name came to mind. The only person she enjoyed working with on Astrometrics problems. Ensign Kim.

"Enjoyed." She wouldn't have phrased it that way out loud, but it was how she felt. Her Borg mind could rationalise by claiming that she merely "enjoyed" the efficiency that resulted when she worked with Ensign Kim, who was intelligent, competent, and knew Astrometrics better than anyone on the ship other than Seven herself. Commander Chakotay was right she he said they made a good team. But she also realized it was more than just efficiency she enjoyed about Ensign Kim.

Seven liked the fact that he went out of his way to help her. She liked that he would always make time for her questions, and rarely seemed to get offended. She even liked his fraternizations, something she would have considered impossible a year before. She liked his smile, and the smiles he brought out of her in response. Most of all, she liked the attention he paid to her. She could tell he went out of his way to spend time with her, and in that he was unlike anyone else. Oh, the Doctor, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, and Captain Janeway all went out of their way to help her, but they did so as mentors as much as friends. Ensign Kim was not a mentor. He was her age, and though he was of superior rank, being part of Starfleet's hierarchy and head of the operations department, he never held that over her. He treated her as an equal. Seven liked the attentions he paid to her, as an equal, and as a friend. He was pleasant to be around, and she knew that were it not for  
him, Voyager would not have become a home to her nearly as quickly as it had.

Seven felt comfortable around Ensign Kim, as well. Many of the other men on the ship would leer whenever she passed by, giving her looks inviting a sexual encounter. Seven ignored them, but found their looks vaguely unsettling. She saw the Ensign's pupils dilate when they looked at her body, and recognized his increased respiratory rate, but he didn't leer. Seven took that to mean he was not attracted to her in the way she saw some of the others were. That was what she had tried to tell Lieutenant Torres two days previous when Torres stated that Ensign Kim was in love with her. Why else would he have refused her when she asked him to copulate last year?

That incident still left Seven feeling somewhat annoyed. She learned subsequently that human women were not usually so open with sexual invitations, even though men sometimes were. She was still a little regretful that Ensign Kim had turned her down. He couldn't have meant it as an insult - if he did, why were they friends? - but she really had wanted to try copulation. It was an aspect of humanity that seemed - intriguing. There were no other males on Voyager that were as acceptable as Ensign Kim to her, and as she studied the databases on human sexuality after the 'mess hall incident', she realized that sexuality was a matter that humanity still did  
not take lightly. She still wanted to experience it, but as there was no one else acceptable, and as Ensign Kim obviously did not find her attractive, dilated pupils notwithstanding, she had refrained from propositioning anyone else. There was no one else who would have made her feel as comfortable.

But why did Lieutenant Torres insist that Ensign Kim was in love with her? And why did he react so poorly when she insisted he was not? And why was he avoiding her? And why did it seem to *matter* so much?

Her frustration at the impasse with Ensign Kim and the problem with increasing power efficiency increased her frustration even more. She needed help with her task. Not because she was incapable of completing it, but it would be easier to have help.

It would also, as the phrase Ensign Kim had taught her, "kill two birds with one stone". For a species that claimed to be peaceful, humanity had a preponderance of violent metaphors.

She tapped her commbadge.

* * *

Captain Kathryn Janeway was sitting in her ready room, reading padds of daily reports, and drinking her third cup of coffee that afternoon, when she was hailed over the comm system.

** Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway **

"Janeway here. How can I help you, Seven?"

** I require assistance in Astrometrics, Captain. ** There was a hesitation on Seven's end, then she continued. ** Is Ensign Kim busy? **

Captain Janeway smiled. She knew that there was no one Seven preferred working with over Harry. She also knew Harry jumped at any chance to work with Seven. There was an undercurrent between the two, although the Captain doubted they were acting on it. That undercurrent helped make Seven and Harry one of the best teams on Voyager for completing assignments, so whether it came to anything or not, she was in favour of it. For the good of the ship, of course. Janeway told herself that the fact that she viewed Seven as the daughter she never had, and that Harry was about the nicest and most responsible young man she had ever met, had nothing to do with her approval of their working relationship, no matter it's consequences.

She did not entirely convince herself.

"No, Seven, it's been pretty dull up here today. I'll send Harry down right away."

** Thank you Captain. Seven out. **

Janeway smiled again and exited her ready room onto the bridge. "Ensign Kim," she called.

"Aye Captain."

"Seven needs a hand in Astrometrics. There's not much happening here today, so I told her you'd go and assist her."

At that moment, Harry looked like he would prefer to battle the Borg Collective on his own than go and work with the solitary Borg in Astrometrics. The moment passed, however, and Harry responded with a distracted but professional, "Aye, Captain." He then left for the turbolift.

Captain Janeway was surprised. Normally Harry leapt at the chance to work with Seven. She exchanged a look with her first officer, Commander Chakotay, who also noticed Harry's reluctance. Chakotay just shrugged at the Captain.

As she returned to her ready room, Chief Pilot Tom Paris tried his best to become invisible. It didn't work. It never did.

* * *

Trying to understand why the universe was against him this week, Harry Kim entered the Astrometrics Lab. Seven was crouched underneath the main console, working away at its underside. Harry didn't want to deal with her at the moment, but it was his job. Deciding that professionalism was once again the way to go, he cleared his throat and said "You asked for my assistance, Seven."

Seven got out from under the console and stood up at the sound of his voice. Harry couldn't help but look at her. She was so damned beautiful. He knew Seven could see his pupils dilating, so he looked slightly away from him. He certainly didn't want to come into eye contact with her.

Seven noticed his reactions, but decided not to comment on them just yet. She had noticed that Ensign Kim usually waited until partway through an assignment to try and make conversation. She decided she would do the same. "I am trying to increase the power efficiency. Working under Lieutenant Torres' parameters makes it a more time-consuming task than I had anticipated. I need your assistance, Ensign."

"All right. What do you need me to do?" he responded. They set about working on their assignment, standing beside one another, much closer than Harry would have liked at that point.

After about twenty minutes, Seven decided it was time to address the second issue she wanted Ensign Kim to deal with, her argument with Lieutenant Torres, and the Ensign's subsequent avoidance of her. "Ensign Kim, I have a question about the events of two days ago."

He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it, Seven." Harry continued to avoid looking at her.

This was not going as Seven had hoped. Trying a different approach, she stopped and looked at him, and asked, "Why have you been avoiding me these past two days, Ensign?"

"I haven't been avoiding you." It was a complete lie, and they both knew it, but Harry hoped it would deflect the issue.

"Yes you have. You did not have dinner with me after the arguments with Lieutenant Torres and asked me to leave you alone afterwards. The next morning you did not want to eat with again, and once again wanted to be alone. This is out of character for you, as previously -"

Harry interrupted her. "I thought on-duty fraternizations were inefficient and irrelevant." He hoped throwing her words of months ago back at her would make her stop. He didn't want to deal with this at the moment, and was afraid she would wear him down if he let her continue much longer. It was harder for him to say 'no' to Seven than almost anything else.

Seven did not respond for nearly a minute. She had never heard such a sentiment from Ensign Kim before. She looked downwards at her hands and said, "I have not found our workplace conversations nearly as irrelevant over the past couple of months."

Harry stole a glance at her. She was weakening his defences, and the only way he could keep things professional was to just ignore her.

They worked in silence for nearly an hour more. Harry once again drew his job around him like a cloak to protect himself, and managed to be very efficient.

Seven, on the other hand, was weighed down by her emotions. Ensign Kim had never treated her this way before. She found that troubling, and was nowhere near as productive as usual. Ensign Kim being comparatively more productive would have been her primary concern at any other time, but its importance was clearly secondary at that point.

When they were finished, Harry smacked his hands together to clear them of dust, and said to Seven, "If we're finished here, I'm going to back to the bridge." He then turned to leave.

Seven reached out to his shoulder with her Borg enhanced left arm to stop him. "Am I to assume, Ensign, that you wish to dine alone again this evening?"

His response was so quiet Seven could barely hear it. "That's right."

She let go of his shoulder, and tried a technique to soften him that she had often observed humans use. 'Other humans', a part of her thought. "Perhaps we could dine again sometime soon, Harry?"

At her use of his first name, he turned around and couldn't help but look in her huge blue eyes. They did not bear the ice-cold look he usually saw her give, or even the playfully friendly one he had been more of in recent months. They seemed almost sad.

Mustering every last milligram of emotional strength within him to avoid giving in, he answered quietly, "Sometime, Seven, sometime. Just not today." He then left the mess hall.

* * *

Seven of Nine just stared at the door from which Ensign Kim had left. She was completely bewildered by his actions, which were extremely out of character from the Harry Kim she had known for a year. He was avoiding her, but she could tell it was almost a reluctant avoidance. The look on his face when he said 'Sometime, Seven' was clearly one of confusion and sadness, but she did not understand what he had to be sad about. She believed that normally he would have eagerly complied with a request to eat together. She had never asked him before, and so she briefly considered that he was taken aback by that. He had been avoiding her before this, however.

Her own reactions to the situation were confusing her. Over the past two days, Ensign Kim's reactions to her, and her search for their meaning, had occupied a progressively larger amount of her thoughts. They were now impeding her efficiency on duty. That was unacceptable.

She needed to speak with someone about this situation. Her attempt to resolve things by speaking with Ensign Kim had been a failure, so perhaps someone else could provide her some answers. She resolved to bring it up with Captain Janeway or Commander Tuvok the next time she worked with one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

That evening, Tom and Harry were playing pool at Sandrine's. Harry had been silent all evening, as he was still engaged in a mental war with himself over his actions with Seven, especially this evening. He regretted being so curt with her, but he had felt it was the only way he could protect himself from getting hurt by her. He now knew, however, that Tom had been right. If Seven had wanted nothing to do with him, she wouldn't have asked him to dinner. Seven was direct enough that if she didn't want the be friends any more, she would have told him. She didn't have the finesse to do that sort of thing over a meal.

Harry's mental distraction made his pool skills even less than they usually were. Tom noticed this, and knew what it was that was distracting his friend. As he sunk the eight ball, winning his fourth game in a row, he decided to broach the subject.

"Care to talk about it, Harry?"

Harry sighed. "Not really, Tom."

It was Tom's turn to sigh. "You can't keep it bottled up inside you forever, Har. You have to talk to them sometime."

"I know, Tom. You should have brought B'Elanna along. I really want to make up with her. We should call her, if she wants to come and shoot pool with us."

Tom's face burst into a smile a mile wide. B'Elanna had been distraught ever since her fight with Seven and Harry, and worried that Harry would hold it against her permanently. Tom figured that Harry just needed some time to himself. It turned out he was right.

"I'm sure she'd love to, buddy, but she's pulling a double shift - Beta and Gamma. I'll tell her you want to get together, though; she'll love to hear it."

Harry smiled at that. At least one situation would be resolved. "Do you know if she'll be free for breakfast the day after tomorrow? I'd like a chance to make up with her - on my own, if that's all right, Tom."

"No problem, Harry. I think she's free that morning. I'll give her your message." Tom felt good at this. It was at least progress. He decided to try and push his luck a little. "Now, how about Seven? When are you going to talk with her?"

Harry gave Tom his undivided attention at that. Tom thought his friend would tell him to mind his own business, but Harry gave in a little.

"We worked together today. You're right - she doesn't want to have nothing to do with me. She asked me to dinner."

"That's great!" Tom exclaimed. Then he noticed Harry wasn't smiling. "Wait a minute. You didn't do something stupid like turn her down, did you?"

Harry looked glum. "Yeah, I did. I didn't want to hear that 'I like you as a friend' speech from her. Not today."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Harry, I don't think that the Borg ever learn the 'just friends' line. And it probably isn't one of the things the Captain has taught her while they're playing velocity. Tell me something." He waited until Harry was looking straight at him. "I think I knew the answer, but was B'Elanna right? Do you love her?"

"Yeah, as stupid as it is, I do."

"It's not stupid, Harry. But if you love her, you have to talk to her. Even if she doesn't feel for you what you do for her. You have to talk to her," Tom reiterated.

"I will. I just don't know what to say to her."

"Well, figure something out, Harry. Now rack 'em up, let's see if I can make it five in a row."

* * *

The next afternoon, Commander Chakotay sauntered into the mess hall whistling a merry tune. He looked over to Neelix's counter, and saw the morale officer chatting amiably with Samantha Wildman. The Talaxian would occasionally reach out and touch her arm while speaking with her, and Chakotay thought he saw Neelix looking happier than he had in a long time, whenever he was with Ensign Wildman. Considering Neelix's usual happy expression, that was saying a lot. He wandered over to the pair, and greeted them with a cheery hello.

"Hello, Commander," Sam Wildman responded. "We'll see you at 1900, right Neelix?"

"That's right," he replied.

"Until then. Bye, Commander." She waved and left the mess hall.

"Good afternoon, Commander," Neelix said to Chakotay. "What can I get you today?"

"Just some egg salad sandwiches, Neelix; I have to get back to the bridge. Are you babysitting Naomi tonight?"

"Actually, Sam invited me over to dinner."

Chakotay shot Neelix and impish grin. "Dinner, eh? You been having a lot of those with Ensign Wildman lately. Just being a good godfather to Naomi, right?" he asked slyly.

Neelix blushed a little as he made Chakotay his sandwiches. "That's part of it," he admitted to the First Officer.

"Ah. So, any other gossip I should hear about?"

Neelix was glad to be off the hook himself. "Well, the Carey-Ayala practical joke war goes on. After Richard Ayala rigged Joe's sonic shower to blare Andorian religious chants at Joe, he vowed revenge. He adjusted Richard's commbadge to constantly play Bajoran children's songs every time he entered the holodeck." Neelix grinned at this. "Rather ruined his date with Stephanie Scheelar from Communications, I'm afraid. I wonder how he'll retaliate."

"Just so long as it doesn't affect the ship," Chakotay warned.

"Oh, I don't think you have to worry, Commander. They're very good at that sort of thing."

"Keep me posted." Chakotay looked across the mess hall. "Why is Seven of Nine eating alone? Doesn't she usually eat with Harry? He is on lunch, so I thought he'd be here."

Neelix moved in closer to Chakotay. Whispering, he said, "Something's been going on with them, but I don't know what. A few days ago, he turned her away from his table. He hasn't been eating with Tom and B'Elanna, either, but at least he smiles at them."

In a hushed voice, Chakotay answered, "He didn't look to happy about helping her in Astrometrics yesterday, either. I'll have to find out what's going on."

"Tell me when you do, Commander."

Chakotay ginned as the jovial Talaxian handed him his sandwiches. "You bet." He returned to the bridge.

* * *

Tom Paris was in the shuttle bay, trying to fix the propulsion controls of the Delta Flyer. Ever since it had become Voyager's shuttle of choice, his 'baby', as he thought of his, had been taking a beating. "I need a hand," he mumbled to himself. The only ones he felt comfortable about working on it with him were the designers of the Flyer - B'Elanna, Harry, and Seven. Even the repair crews from Shuttlecraft Maintenance made him anxious. Having finally gotten his perfect shuttle, high performance, and with an actual cockpit and controls that made him feel like a pilot instead of a computer technician, he didn't like the thought of anyone else meddling with it.

B'Elanna was busy in Engineering today, however. He knew she had a nasty schedule, and would be working straight through until 0700, when she'd have breakfast with Harry. So he tapped his commbadge to hail Harry.

"Paris to Kim."

** Kim here. What's up, Tom? **

"You busy, buddy? I need a hand on the Delta Flyer."

** Sorry Tom, I'm stuck on the bridge for a while. Try Maintenance. **

"And let them ruin my new toy? Maybe not."

** Sorry I can't help you, Tom. Try B'Elanna. Kim out. **

Tom groaned. Then he hit his commbadge again, muttering, "If at first you don't succeed..."

"Paris to Seven of Nine."

** What do you need, Lieutenant? **

"Are you busy in Astrometrics, Seven?"

** I am presently in Cargo Bay 2. My duty shift ended one hour ago. **

"Care to give me some assistance on the Delta Flyer?"

** I will be there shortly. Seven out. **

They worked together of the Flyer for two hours, and not only fixed the propulsion controls, but managed to increase the power efficiency of the Delta Flyer. Seven looked at Tom and told him, "This is the method I tried to use for Voyager three days ago. Lieutenant Torres objected to it."

Tom didn't want to be caught in the middle of this the way Harry had. "It's very efficient, and it works here because we have no other modifications to make."

She responded with a mere nod.

Tom had to admit that for whatever faults Seven had, she was an efficient worker. When he expressed his admiration for her focus to her, she answered in a way he wouldn't have expected.

"I have not been very efficient recently, Lieutenant."

"Why's that?" Tom asked. He suspected he knew the answer.

Seven hesitated. She would rather discuss this with the Captain or Tuvok, but Lieutenant Paris was here. He was also Ensign Kim's friend. Perhaps he could give her an insight into his mind. "I have been preoccupied with attempting to ascertain the reason that Ensign Kim is avoiding me." She looked straight at the Lieutenant. "You have been Ensign Kim's friend since you boarded Voyager, correct?"

"Since the day before, actually."

"Then perhaps you can explain why he is avoiding me. Does it have something to do with my recent dispute with Lieutenant Torres?"

Tom answered, "You really should ask Harry that, Seven. You should hear it from him."

"Logically, he will not tell me why he is avoiding, because he is avoiding me, Lieutenant. That is why I am asking you."

That elicited a sigh from Tom. "Fine. But before I tell you anything you have to promise to talk about this with Harry as soon as possible. O.K.?"

"I will try," she said, somewhat less than impassively.

"That's all I can ask," he said with a grin. "He's been worried that you wouldn't want to have anything to do with him, since, well, since B'Elanna said what she said."

"That he is in love with me."

Tom nodded.

"Ensign Kim is my friend. He was the first person on this ship to try and befriend me, and he has been persistent in his friendship despite my initially viewing him as an annoyance," she admitted. "Why would I want to discontinue that friendship?"

"I honestly have no idea, Seven. I think this whole problem is all in Harry's mind. You get that way when -" Tom stopped there.

"When what, Lieutenant?"

"When you're in love."

Seven's eyes widened. "So Lieutenant Torres was correct. Harry is in love with me."

Seven's use of his friend's first name brought a grin to Tom's face. "Yes, 'Harry' is in love with you. He has been for quite a while. Probably since he first met you."

In a confused voice, Seven asked Tom, "Then why did he not wish to copulate with me last year?"

"You know, Seven, lots of people on this ship would be surprised to hear me, of all people, say this, but there's more to love than just copulation. You were new to humanity - innocent, in a way. Harry didn't want to just have sex with you, Seven. He wanted a relationship. He still does."

Seven looked troubled at what Tom had just said, so he started to ask probing questions. "How do you feel about Harry? Is it just friendship? Or something more?"

The former Borg's answers were faltering. "I... he... I don't know."

"Do you think about him much?"

A small smile came to her face. It was the first one that Tom had ever seen, but Harry had told him that she smiled to him occasionally. Seeing this hint of a smile on the blonde woman's face made Tom understand what Harry saw in her even more that he previously did.

"I find I am often contemplating Ensign Kim. I enjoy working with him, and I enjoy dining and conversing with him after our duty shifts." Her face fell a bit. "Until he stopped wanting to take his meals with me."

Tom persisted. "Sounds like you have feelings for him. Do you love him?"

Seven hesitated again. "I do not know. I do not know if I feel as strongly for Ensign Kim as he does for me, but I do enjoy his company." She shook her head. "I wish he were not avoiding me."

"Sometimes, Seven, I've found you can't let people avoid you for too long. They may need space, but sometimes too much space can be a bad thing. That's how it was with me and B'Elanna."

"She tried to avoid you before your 'relationship'?"

Tom looked wistful. "Yeah. A lot. B'Elanna was special in a way no other woman had been to me, and I know she liked me, but she didn't know how to deal with it. I had quite a bad reputation before I got together with her, you know."

"I have heard some of the crew mention this."

"Anyway, because she didn't know what to do, she tried to avoid me a lot of the time. I knew she needed some space, but if I let her stay away from me as much as she thought she needed, she would have never dealt with me, and we wouldn't have our relationship. And we'd both be very unhappy.

"Harry might think he has to avoid you, Seven, but I think he's wrong. You obviously do too. Don't let him avoid you forever."

Seven nodded. "Thank you for your suggestion, Lieutenant." She started towards the door of the shuttlebay.

Tom stopped her. "Two things before I let you go. One: don't tell Harry what I told you. Trust me, he'd must rather tell you himself, even if he doesn't know it."

"And the second thing, Lieutenant?"

Tom looked at Seven very seriously. "The second thing is, don't toy with Harry. If you really feel for him, Seven, that's great, and you have my full support. I think you and Harry could make each other very happy. But if you just want to experiment with someone, to try a relationship as a learning experience, then my advice is DON'T. Not with Harry. He really cares about you, and I don't want to see him hurt. And neither does B'Elanna. If you only want to stay friends, tell him. It would hurt him less than to be used as -"

"As a 'lab rat', Lieutenant?"

"Yeah. That's what B'Elanna said, isn't it?"

Seven frowned. "Yes, it is. As I told her, I would never use Ensign Kim as an experiment. But..." she looked directly at him with a worried expression on her face. "But I am unsure as to whether I 'love' Harry. I wish to spend time with him, and they idea of an association with him similar to the one between you and Lieutenant Torres is one I often find myself contemplating, but as I said, I am unsure whether I feel as strongly for him as he does for me."

Tom now smiled warmly at the unsure woman before him. "Well, it does sound like you're interested in him, at least. And we humans have a way of dealing with feelings that are more than friendship, but may not *yet*" he stressed the 'yet' "be love."

"And that method is what?"

"Our 'method', Seven, is dating," Tom answered.

"I will look it up in the databases. Thank you for your assistance, Lieutenant."

"Just remember, Seven, don't let him avoid you."

"I will not." She left the shuttlebay.

Behind her, Tom Paris was smiling. To no one in particular, he said, "You owe me one, Harry."


	4. Chapter 4

Late that evening, Chakotay walked into the mess hall. It was very poorly lit, at roughly one-eighth illumination, he guessed. As the computer told him, Harry Kim was here, sitting on his own and staring out into space at the montage of stars racing past the ship. Beside him on the table were his clarinet and some curious folded pieces of paper. He walked up to the table, and said, "Are these supposed to be gliders?"

Harry looked up with a start. "Commander!" he exclaimed. "I didn't hear you come in. No, they're supposed to be swans."

"Ah. Origami."

"Yeah, Baytart suggested I try it. I'm not very good at it, though."

"I never was either," Chakotay responded. He sat down beside the young ensign. "Is something wrong, Harry? You've seemed troubled lately."

Harry turned to the First Officer with a worried look on his face. "Has it been affecting my performance on the bridge, Commander?"

Chakotay chuckled. "Far from it. You've been the model of professionalism. Tuvok was commenting on how focused you seemed. It not as fun working on the bridge, though, when you're unhappy. Care to talk about it?"

Harry shook his head. "Not really, Commander."

Chakotay looked intently as the young man, and said, "That's all right, you don't have to. But I've found that talking about problems often provides solutions to them, and I figured you might want to unload. I'm not here as your commanding officer, Harry, I'm just here as Chakotay, your colleague and friend."

Harry seemed touched by this. He enjoyed working with the Commander, but the former Maquis had not often reached out to him before this way. He didn't realize that it was because he usually didn't need it. But Chakotay was nothing if not a wise man, and so Harry, who had always respected his elders and superiors, heeded his advice in a way he would not for advice from others, even Tom or B'Elanna.

"All right, Commander - "

Chakotay shot him a mock stern look.

"I mean, Ch-Chakotay, if you think it's a good idea to talk about it..." He felt uncomfortable calling the Commander by his name.

"Is it about Seven of Nine?" the older man asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"You didn't seem as eager to work with her yesterday as you usually do. And this afternoon, she was eating lunch in the messhall alone, and I know you usually eat with her. You had lunch off, so I was wondering."

"Ah."

Chakotay tried to trod delicately over this next patch. "Are the rumours about you and her true, Harry?"

"You mean about me being in love with her?" Harry said with difficulty. Chakotay nodded. "Yes. They are."

"Is that why you've been upset lately?"

"Sort of. B'Elanna and Seven had a fight a few days ago, and I stuck my nose in the middle of it, and B'Elanna made fun of my... feelings for Seven in front of her, and told Seven I loved her."

"What did Seven say to that?"

Harry sighed. "Seven tried to tell B'Elanna that I didn't love her, and as proof used an incident in the messhall last year."

Chakotay couldn't help but grin. "Did this incident involve a 'Ktarian moonrise' holoprogram?"

Harry's eyes grew wide with trepidation. "You know about that, sir?"

"I'm not 'sir' tonight, Harry. And yes. Seven told me about it after it happened. She was worried you wouldn't want to work with her any more. Don't worry, I told her not to spread that story around, and I haven't mentioned it to anyone else. I must say, I was impressed you turned down her offer to 'copulate'." Chakotay unsuccessfully tried to stifle a chuckle. "Not many men would have refused to take advantage of her innocence. Were you in love with her even then, Harry?"

"I suppose I was. I just wanted to get to know her - "

"I know, Harry. So Seven told B'Elanna about this. What happened then?"

With a large amount of self-hatred in his voice, Harry said, "Then I got mad at both of them, and have tried to avoid them ever since. I know I shouldn't be doing that, but I can't help it. I'm going to have breakfast with B'Elanna in the morning, however."

"That's good. You don't want to avoid your friends forever - both of them."

Harry smiled. "You sound like Tom, Chakotay."

A few years previous, those would have been fighting words to Chakotay. He and Paris now had a respect for one another, although they would probably never be friends. Chakotay would probably never be trying to empathize with Tom Paris the way he was with Harry Kim, but he had gotten over his dislike of the cocky pilot. Tom Paris had proved to be an exemplary officer - something the old Chakotay of the Maquis never would have believed.

"He's trying to be a friend. Why are you avoiding Seven?"

Another sigh. "At first it was because I thought she would view me as an irrelevant annoyance."

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Harry."

"I know. Now it's because I don't want to hear her tell me she doesn't feel the same way."

Chakotay put his hand on Harry's arm to reassure him. "I don't think that's a good idea, Harry. If she's the friend I know she is to you, you shouldn't avoid her. And if you love her, she should know."

"Even if she doesn't feel the same way?"

Chakotay sighed at the parallels to his own situation. "Yes, I think that even if it seems she doesn't return you feelings, she should know. That way, she doesn't think you're hiding anything, and it might give her a new perspective on you. And after all, you never know if she'll return the feelings."

"You're right, Chakotay. You're right." Harry's eyes moistened. "It's just so damned hard! Seeing Seven almost every day, working so close with her, being with her, knowing that I can draw her out better than anyone else. It would be different if I didn't think something was there. But I don't know if she wants to admit it, of even if she could! I mean, I'm the only one she smiles at. She's more at ease with me than anyone else on the ship, it seems, with the possible exception of the Doctor. We work well together -"

"You two are one of the best teams on Voyager," Chakotay interrupted.

"Thanks. Sometimes I think it would be easier not to love her. I've tried to get over her. But I can't. Every so often, she'll say something, or smile at me, or just *look* in a way that makes my heart think there's a chance. It's hard to go on this way, though."

Chakotay listened intently to Harry's speech. The young man's feelings seemed eerily similar to his own. "I know it's hard, Harry. Believe me, I know. But I think it's worth it. I don't work with you and Seven much, but I know she likes working with you, and I don't think it's just your efficiency. You have a lot in common, and what you don't have in common, you could help each other with. There's been no one who's helped Seven along in the little, day-to-day things the way you have, and I have noticed a spring in your step over the past year that wasn't there before. "I think her presence has helped you deal with the possibility that we may not be home for decades. Her being here has shown you... possibilities that life on Voyager could be more than work and friends, Harry. It could be a *life*. A life well worth living."

Harry nodded at this. "You're right, Chakotay."

Chakotay grinned. "Of course I'm right. You should always listen to your elders. Don't avoid her any more, Harry. Tell her how you feel. You may be surprised at what you hear. At the very least, having your feelings out in the open will make it seem a weight has been lifted off your shoulders."

Harry smiled in return at the elder man. "Thanks, Chakotay. I think I will." He hesitated before continuing. "Is this what it's like between you and the Captain?"

Chakotay's first reaction was to not talk about his situation with Captain Janeway. However, he had no one to speak to about it on the ship. His closest companion was Kathryn Janeway herself, and he didn't really have any male friends to talk to about it. Harry was as good as anyone, and would keep his word not to talk about it. Plus, his situation was surprisingly similar.

"This doesn't go beyond this room, right?" Harry nodded in response. "Yeah, it's a lot like me and Kathryn. I take it there are plenty of rumours going around about this." Another nod from Harry. "She knows how I feel. I'm sure she feels the same way too, but she refuses to admit. It's like she doesn't want to be happy until she gets us home. The guilt of her decision when she destroyed the Caretaker array still weighs heavily on her mind. I don't think she realizes that we don't hold that decision against her."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I know. I worry about her, Chakotay. I think she's working herself to death."

"I'm glad to know it's not just that Doctor and I who think that. I hope she lets herself return my love some day. At times she seems willing to - like the night before we tried the slipstream drive. We had the nicest dinner in her quarters - it's like she was saying that back in the Alpha Quadrant, she would have no problem loving me. After the experiment failed, however, it was back to normal." He sighed at that.

"Sometimes it does seem too much, though, I'll admit that," Chakotay continued. "That's why that short time with Valerie Archer was so nice. She had no problem caring - even if she was an 8472."

Harry grinned. "I could never date an 8472, myself."

Chakotay smiled back. "And I could never be interested in a Borg. Again." He pushed the thought of Riley Frazier out of his mind. "Chacun son gout, though," he said, raising an imaginary toast.

Harry looked at his Commander. "I know what you mean about the Captain and her decision with the Caretaker. I want to be with my family more than anything, but I've always known the Captain made the right decision, even if I have to be away from my family because of it. She shouldn't beat herself up over it.

"I mean, for some people," Harry went on, "being in the Delta Quadrant has been the best thing in their lives. Tom and B'Elanna, for example."

Chakotay laughed. "I know. And if I were back in the Alpha Quadrant, I probably would have been killed along with the rest of the Maquis. B'Elanna too."

Eager to provide another example why his Captain was right, Harry leapt in, "And if we weren't in the Delta Quadrant, Seven never would have been freed from the Borg. And I never would have met her. I can't imagine live without her."

Chakotay beamed at that. "There's the spirit, Harry!"

The young man smiled larger than he had all evening. "Yeah, I will talk with her tomorrow." Then his expression darkened. "What's going to happen to Seven if we get back to the Alpha Quadrant? What's going to happen to you, for that matter?"

Chakotay frowned. The lightened mood they had been experiencing darkened considerably. "I suspect the outstanding charges against the Maquis will be dropped. With this war the Federation is fighting, our actions against the Cardassians will probably let us be seen in a whole new light. About Seven, I hope that Starfleet will see her as a person instead of just a Borg resource and treat her accordingly." He shook his head. "I've been wrong about Starfleet before, however. That's why I became Maquis."

Harry looked downcast again. "I don't want to let her go to be used or dissected by Starfleet security. If I lose because of her decision, that's one thing. I won't let her be used, however."

Chakotay smiled. "You remind me of a younger version of myself when you say that. That's what I like about you, Harry. You believe in the ideals of Starfleet through and through, but you've never forgotten it's about people. I know that got you in trouble with Tuvok when Kathryn and I were stranded on New Earth because you didn't want us left behind when there was a chance we could be cured. Tuvok's a good man, but sometimes he can't see the trees for the forest."

Chakotay then looked very seriously at Harry. "I hope it doesn't come to this, but you do realize you may have to go 'Maquis' or sorts when we hit the Alpha Quadrant to protect Seven, don't you?"

Harry nodded sombrely. "It's something I've thought about. I don't want to, but if I have to to protect her, I will. I would for any of you."

Chakotay smiled at that. "I know. And you should know that if we might lose someone - anyone - we care about to the machinations of Federation or Starfleet politics, you won't be alone."

"Thanks. Besides," Harry continued, "I must have been a 'Maquis' of sorts in one possible future. I mean, that future me erased ten or twenty years of what was the past when he sent that message to Seven during the slipstream flight. Starfleet doesn't take kindly to changes in the timeline, does it?"

"Braxton certainly didn't. Some things never change." Chakotay grinned. "This has been a good talk, Harry, but it's late and we both have to be up early tomorrow."

"I know. I want to thank you, Chakotay, you've really been a help."

"No problem, Harry. Just remember it's back to 'Commander', tomorrow." Harry chuckled at that. "One more thing. If you ever want to talk about anything, you know my door is open."

"The same think goes for you, Commander. If you want to talk about you and the Captain, I'm here for you as well."

Chakotay smiled at Harry for that. "I may take you up on that. I don't really have anyone else to talk to about it, you know."

Harry smiled back. "Anytime. Oh, one more thing, Chakotay?"

"Yes?"

As they walked to the mess hall door, Harry put his hand on Chakotay's shoulder. "You know how much I respect the Captain. She's not just my commanding officer, she's like a mother of sorts to me. I just want you to know that I can't think of anyone who would make her happier than you."

"I'm touched, Harry. Thank you."

As they left the mess hall, and began to walk in opposite directions, Chakotay turned around one last time. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

In his best commanding voice, Chakotay said, "Remember, talk with her tomorrow. That's an order. Understood, Ensign?" His smile belied his tone.

Harry stood as straight as could be, saluted sharply, and responded, "Aye aye, sir!"

They both walked away smiling.


	5. Chapter 5

"Good morning B'Elanna!" beamed Neelix as Voyager's Chief Engineer walked up to his counter. "What would you like for breakfast?"

B'Elanna Torres looked pensively at Neelix's breakfast selections. One of the dishes looked like an omelette, but with Neelix, looks could always be deceiving. A second offering looked like bright blue mashed potatoes. The third - the third looked like a chalk-white porridge of some sort, with green and purple bean-like things suspended in it. "I don't know, Neelix. What are the options?"

"Well, this morning, we have cheese omelets, my Breakfast Surprise," he said pointing to the porridge, "and by special request, my whipped pilarbra tubers au gratin."

"I think I'll just stick with a cheese omelette, Neelix," said B'Elanna.

"You really should try the tubers, B'Elanna," said a familiar voice over her shoulder.

"Harry!"

"I take it you'll have the tubers, Harry?" asked Neelix. Not waiting for a response, Neelix continued. "Oh, and I found a clarinet in the mess hall this morning as I was making breakfast. I assume it's yours. Late night practice session?" He handed Harry his clarinet.

"No, I was just playing and watching the stars."

"O.K. Have a good breakfast Harry, B'Elanna." Neelix then went on to serve his next diner.

Harry and B'Elanna made their way over to their usual table. Sitting down, Harry said, "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you lately, B'Elanna. I didn't -"

B'Elanna interrupted him. "No, I'm sorry for ripping into you like that a few days ago, Harry. Seven just got my hackles up, and you were an easy target."

"Apology accepted, B'Elanna. It did give me a few things to think about."

B'Elanna eyed her friend curiously. "Is that what you were doing last night? Playing alone in the dark, worrying about your troubles?"

"Yeah, until I had a visitor show up. Had a good conversation, too." Harry smiled at the half-Klingon woman. "I bet you'll never guess who."

B'Elanna's immediate response was, "Seven?" She still spoke the name with a little bit of venom in her voice.

Harry shook his head. He may be making up with B'Elanna, and he hoped to make up with Seven, but it wasn't going to be easy dealing with the two of them together. "No, Seven didn't show up last night."

"Well, it probably wasn't Tom. He said was going to be working on the Delta Flyer late into the night." A smile crossed her face. "Was it Sue Nicoletti?"

"No, why would Sue show up?"

B'Elanna looked a little guilty, and said, "Well, she has been asking about you a lot in Engineering lately. She also seems to walk on air on nights after you two practice your instruments together." B'Elanna grinned at that, and leaned in closer to Harry, conspiratorially. "I think she has a crush on you."

"Sue?" Harry didn't expect that. She had seemed friendlier lately, but the thought that it was because she was interested in him had never crossed his mind.

"There's nothing wrong with Sue Nicoletti, Harry. You could do a lot worse. She's pretty, a good worker, and she enjoys music as much as you do. You should go for her!" B'Elanna hoped he did. She thought Sue would be better for Harry than that Borg woman.

Harry shook his head. "Sue's a great woman, B'Elanna, I know. But I'm not interested in her."

B'Elanna's face hardened. "Because you're interested in Seven."

"Yes." He paused. "Part of the reason I reacted the way I did a few nights ago was that you spoke directly to my fears." His steady voice began to waiver a little. "That she could never return my feelings for her..."

"So. You're admitting you like her, now." B'Elanna wasn't happy at this turn. She saw how Harry dealt with the ex-Borg, and knew how he felt, but so long as he kept denying it, she thought there was a chance he'd get over it. Now that he was admitting his feelings for her, she feared they'd be more permanent. And that her friend would really get hurt by the former drone.

"It's more than like, B'Elanna. I..."

The mess hall door slid open at that point, and in walked Seven of Nine. She saw Harry and B'Elanna sitting together and strode forcefully over to them. "Good morning, Lieutenant Torres, Ensign Kim." She looked directly at Harry. "Ensign Kim, it is imperative that we speak. Privately," she said, looking directly at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna metaphorically raised her shields. "Now, just wait a minute here, Seven. I was here first and..."

'Oh no, not again,' thought Harry. He interrupted his friend. "Is this about ship's business, Seven?"

"It is not," she responded. "It is about... us." She seemed less sure of herself at that point.

"Well, Seven, I'm having breakfast with B'Elanna at the moment, but I think you're right, we do need to speak. Privately. It's just that now... really isn't..."

Seven stopped his explanation. "Ensign, you have barely spoken to me for four days and have been avoiding me wherever possible. Every time I try to speak with you, you tell me we will speak later. We need to talk NOW."

B'Elanna was about to say something when Harry raised his hand as a warning to her. "I said, you're right, we need to talk. But I think this evening would be a better time. Are you going to be busy at 1930 hours, Seven?"

"I do not think so."

Harry tried to sound more confident than he really was at this point. "Would you like to join me in my quarters for dinner then? We can talk privately then."

Seven's mouth rose into a slight smile. She had not expected this reaction. Lieutenant Paris had led her to believe that the Ensign would still try and avoid her, and from his recent actions, that was what she also expected. She had an image in her mind of her having to pin him against a bulkhead and force him to speak with her. She was glad it hadn't come to that.

"That would be acceptable. I will leave you to your breakfast with Lieutenant Torres." She then left the two and went off to the Astrometrics lab.

B'Elanna was bewildered at her friend. "She comes in here, ordering you around, trying to kick me out of this conversation, and you take that as a cue to make a DATE with her? I don't understand you sometimes, Harry." She shook her head.

Harry, on the other hand, was just smiling. "Yeah, I suppose it was a date. Wow. Now I have to figure out what to make for dinner. I hope I have enough replicator rations..."

B'Elanna reached out and touched her friends arm. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Tom wasn't kidding, was he, Starfleet? You really are in love with her."

"Yes. I thought you knew that. That's what you told her, at any rate."

Her face flushed. "I was just trying to annoy you. I knew you had a crush on her, but I didn't know you had this... depth of feeling I can see you do." She shook her head. "This is too weird."

"No weirder than watching you and Tom dance around each other for months," he smiled.

"Now, Tom and I were completely different..." B'Elanna stopped. "We weren't, were we?" Seeing Harry shake his head, she continued.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, Harry. You're my best friend on the ship, other than Tom. I just worry that Seven's going to break your heart."

"Have a little faith, B'Elanna. It's a possibility, but when is it ever not?"

B'Elanna persisted. "Sue Nicoletti wouldn't break your heart..." Harry just looked at her. "Fine, Harry. I just hope I don't have to say 'I told you so' to you. And don't expect any double dates with me and Tom," she said, pointing a fork at him.

He smirked at that. "You'll grow to like her. If anything works out, that is..." His face fell a little.

B'Elanna looked at the chronometer on the wall. 0750 hours. "You better get to the bridge, Harry." She then smiled warmly at him. "Well at least keep your hopes up, Harry. You got her on a date, at least."

"Yeah, there's that."

"See?" B'Elanna shook her head. "Imagine, me trying to make you feel better about Seven. Huh." Then, smiling warmly at her friend, she said, "I'm glad we could have breakfast like this, Harry."

"Hey, I always like eating with a good friend." He smiled back at her.

They took their trays back to Neelix's counter and left the mess hall together.

* * *

B'Elanna opened the door to her quarters and walked in. She was immediately enveloped by a pair of strong arms from behind. "Morning, Babe," came the voice of Tom Paris.

"Hi Tom," she turned around and kissed him. "Tom..."

He put a finger up against her lips, and led her to the couch, where they both sat down, with her in his arms.

"Mmm, Tom," she continued, "I'd love... for you to stay, but I just worked a double shift, and I have to be at work at 1700, so I need my rest. I'm sorry, but I don't have time for..."

"For what? For sex?" B'Elanna nodded. Tom just continued. "It's not always about sex, B'Elanna. I know your tired, and that why I'm here. I just thought it would be nice for you to fall asleep in the arms of the man who loves you."

B'Elanna turned to look at him. "Tom, you've never told me you love me before!"

The pilot looked uncomfortable. "Well, it's true. I do. Love you, that is."

He paused a moment while she reached her head up and took him in a passionate kiss. As he broke the meeting of their lips, he said, "I know I should say it more often, but I get uncomfortable saying it."

"I know, Tom. It's nice to hear it, though."

"Well, I'll remember that. How was breakfast with Harry?"

"It went fine. I'm glad he's speaking to me again." She then turned to look at him. "Of course, Seven showed up and started pestering him. Harry made a date with her for tonight."

Tom looked shocked. "He did? Good for Harry. Looks like my talk with her last night... Uh-oh," he said as he saw the look on B'Elanna's face.

"You went to talk with her about Harry?"

"No, actually, she started talking about it while we were working on the Delta Flyer. I told her not to let Harry avoid her forever."

B'Elanna's eyes narrowed. "So help me, Paris, if she hurts him in one of her little sociological 'experiments'..."

Tom just held B'Elanna more tightly. "I told her the same thing, B'Elanna. I said only to do something if she really cared for him, and that if she hurt him, there's be hell to pay with both you *and* me."

"Oh. Good. Wait a minute. Does she love Harry?"

Tom laughed. "No, not yet. But she cares about him. Look, we have to trust Harry. He's a big boy. He can handle himself."

"I just don't know if he can handle that Borg."

Tom kissed the top of B'Elanna's head. "I'm sure we'll see, Babe. Now go to sleep." He pulled out a padd.

She closed her eyes. "What are you reading, Tom?"

He read the title of his padd to her. "From Little Rock to the Bell Riots: American Civil Unrest, 1957-2024."

"Oooo. Sounds fun," she teased.

"Well, I like it. Nighty-night."

She fell asleep in his arms. He was soon engrossed in his hobby, twentieth-century American history, but not so engrossed that he didn't feel he was damn lucky to be here with such a beautiful woman he love so much cradled up against him, softly breathing in her slumber.

* * *

On the bridge, Commander Chakotay and Captain Janeway got off the turbolift and walked towards the Captain's ready room. Chakotay stopped to speak with Harry, who was looking a little worried, but not nearly as upset he had been in recent days.

He put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Did you take my advice, Harry?"

The ops officer smiled. "Yes, sir. Tonight."

"Ah. Good. Carry on." He gave the Ensign a warm smile, and he and Janeway entered the ready room.

"Well, Commander, what was that about?" the Captain asked her First Officer.

"Oh, I was just talking to Harry last night. I wanted to see if he had listened."

Janeway smiled at him. "Well, it must have worked. He doesn't seem so glum today. May I ask what you talked about?"

"Well, it's sort of private," Chakotay said.

"I promise, it won't leave this room."

Chakotay's face broke into an evil grin at that. "You realize, Kathryn, that that's how the gossip mill on this ship works, don't you? One person tells another, and so on..."

Janeway smiled back. "Yes, I suppose it does. Well, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine..."

Chakotay sighed. "Well, it was about love. That's all I can really say. I gave him some advice, and we had a good heart-to-heart. I'd never really done that with Harry before."

Janeway's eyes twinkled. "Love? About a certain numerically-named crewmember?"

Chakotay nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"Since when did you become Mr. Lonelyhearts, dispensing advice to the lovelorn?" she asked. Harry's affection for Seven of Nine was widely known on the ship. So was the fact that despite it, Seven of Nine had remained true to her Borg passionlessness.

Chakotay's face took on a cloudy expression, an he said, "It's just that I knew what he was going through. I've been there before - loving someone and not knowing they can return your feelings. So I told him that she should know how he feels. That way she at least knows the option is there, even if she doesn't take it."

Captain Janeway considered that. Chakotay acted on his beliefs, and was always willing to share his advice with others. Trying to avoid thinking of the more personal implications of his advice, however, she said, "I'd say that's good advice for young Mr. Kim. He's been keeping this to himself for to long, if the rumours are true, and you're telling me that they are." Then her eyes twinkled. "She does always ask specifically for him when she wants help. Who knows what will happen with them."

"Well I hope it works out between them, myself," said Chakotay.

"Speaking as Kathryn, and not the Captain, so do I. Although as the Captain, I wouldn't be opposed to it. She could hardly find a nicer young man than Harry."

Janeway resolved to ask Seven about this sometime in the future. In the meantime, there was work to be done. So she pushed thoughts of love out of her mind. A part of her bitterly thought, 'Like you always do, Kathryn'. That part got a mental 'Captain's Glare'.

"So, let's talk about crew promotions, shall we Commander?"


	6. Chapter 6

Harry looked at the chronometer on the wall. 1928 hours. She'd be here in two minutes. 'Well, Harry,' he thought, 'better make the most of it. Tom and Chakotay were right. You have to talk with her. Tell her how you feel.' He still worried about how she would respond, and he wavered between expecting a firm 'no' or a polite 'maybe' in response from Seven.

He looked around his cabin to make sure everything was all right. Dinner - check. Dress shirt and slacks - check. Illumination - check.

Confidence - maybe.

The door chirped. "Come in!" he shouted.

Seven of Nine walked in. He had to stop his jaw from dropping - she was wearing her silver catsuit, the one he hadn't seen in nearly a year. It was his favourite of the clothes he'd seen her wear, although her velocity outfit, which he had seen one day after running into Seven and Captain in the hallway after one of their matches, was a close second.

"Hi, Seven," he said, composing himself. "I'm glad you came. Please, sit down. I figured you'd be on time, so I have dinner all ready."

"I am always punctual, Ensign."

He smiled. "I know, Seven. Well," he said, gesturing to the table, "Let's eat!"

Seven noticed the artificial illumination in the Ensign's cabin was low, and the table was lit by candles. She raised an eyebrow. "Candlelight, Ensign?"

"Please call me Harry tonight, Seven. You have twice already this week." She nodded in response. "I just like candlelight. It makes the room look nice."

Seven ran through a checklist in her head. Low illumination, dilated pupils, personal conversation, and a meal. She thought back to their altercation in the mess hall a year ago, where she had asked En- Harry - if he loved her. She had learned enough about human behaviour since then not to ask the same question. She was certainly not going to ask him to copulate. Every time she mentioned that he seemed to leave the room.

His attempts to create a 'romantic' mood pleased her, however irrational it might be. She gave him a small smile, and responded to him, "Yes, it does look 'nice'."

He smiled back at her. This evening had begun better than he thought. "Well, for dinner, we're having - "

"I have studied the databases on Alpha Quadrant food, Harry. Let me guess." They each had a bowl of vegetables, the most predominant of which was lettuce. "Tossed salad." The 'main course' was long, thin strips of pasta in a white, rich looking sauce. "Fettucini alfredo, correct?"

Harry smiled at her. "That's it exactly, Seven."

She was pleased at this, but then frowned slightly. "This meal is missing something."

"What? What's it missing, Seven?"

Seven looked at him. "For a candlelit dinner such as this, would not a bottle of wine be appropriate?"

Harry was surprised she mentioned this, but said, "Yeah, it would." Then a sheepish grin. "But I ran out of replicator credits."

It was Seven's turn to give a slight grin. She seemed to be doing that a lot this evening. "I have numerous rations, however." She walked over to the replicator, and asked Harry, "What would be an appropriate wine, Harry? I lack any experience in choosing wines for meals."

Harry wasn't an expert at it either, so he said the first thing that popped into his head. "Uh, try a Beaujolais, 2371." He would ask for a 2373, the year he met Seven, but they were of course deep in the Delta Quadrant, and so the computer would have no idea what a 2373 wine would be like.

She replicated a bottle and two glasses, and brought it over to the table. She pored them each a glass, and said, "Now I believe it is appropriate to offer a toast." She looked at Harry, clearly expecting him to do the honours.

'Think, Harry. Something safe.' Then the answer came to him. He raised a glass. "To our friendship."

She gave him a genuine smile at that. "Our friendship," she repeated.

They ate their meal in silence. When they were done, Harry asked, "So, how did you like your meal, Seven?"

"It was nutritious and inoffensive to my palate. Thank you for inviting me, Harry."

"So..." he started nervously. He tapped his fingers together, trying to think of something to say.

Seven looked around his quarters while he was trying to find something to say. There was a black musical instrument sitting on his coffee table which was likely his clarinet. It was also likely that was what he had been playing when she came to his quarters the night of their argument with Lieutenant Torres. He had played beautifully, and she resolved to ask him to play for her sometime.

On his dresser were a number of pictures of people. One of the images leapt out at her.

It was a picture of her. She got up and walked over to it. It looked recent, as she was wearing her blue outfit in it. She was looking directly at whoever had taken the picture. Then she realized it must have been taken at Mr. Neelix's Prixin celebration three weeks before. Harry had brought a holoimager to the party, and had been taking pictures of everyone there. Hers was the only one from that party on his dresser.

There were three other pictures there. Unlike the one of her, each contained multiple people. One was of Harry in a Starfleet dress uniform, with a proud looking older couple beside him. The older man looked vaguely like Harry.

She held up the picture to Harry. "Are these your parents, Harry?"

Harry got up and stood next to her. "Yeah. That was taken upon my graduation from the Academy." He looked lost in memory for a moment. "Mom said she was so proud of me... That was taken a few weeks before I was assigned to Voyager. It was one of the last times I saw them." He wiped a tear away from his eye.

The other two pictures were of people familiar to her. One was of Lieutenants Paris and Torres playing pool at Lieutenant Paris' 'Sandrine's' holoprogram. The other was taken at Mr. Neelix's 'Talaxian Resort' program. It was of Harry, the Captain, Chakotay, Tuvok, Neelix, Paris, Torres, and a pretty women with long red curly hair. It took Seven a moment to recognize her as Kes, the Ocampan woman who had 'evolved' off of Voyager soon after Seven had joined the crew.

"Why do you have pictures of these people?" she asked.

"All of them are people I care about, Seven."

"The picture of me is the only one with a single person in it."

"Yes, well..." Harry didn't really know how to reply to that.

Seven turned to look at him. "Why had you been avoiding me, Harry?" she asked, completely changing the subject.

"Well... uh... in Astrometrics, when you and B'Elanna and I had that argument, I didn't know how to react to what you said."

Seven was confused. "Exactly what did I say that made you unsure?"

'No time like the present,' he thought. "When you told B'Elanna about what happened in the mess hall last year... I was embarrassed. And when you told her that you were certain that I didn't have a crush on you, it was like you were rejecting the idea out of hand. I didn't know what to say after that, so I just didn't." He went to sit down on the couch.

Harry patted the cushion beside his, indicating that he wanted her to sit beside him. She did not normally sit, but realized from her studies of human interaction that it might put him more at ease if she did. The last thing she wanted was for him to get uncomfortable again, leave and start avoiding her again. Even contemplating that possibility made her feel saddened.

"I was not 'rejecting the idea out of hand'," she said, sitting on the cushion he indicated. "Your actions last year indicated to me that she was mistaken. In addition, you made no other attempts to 'set a romantic mood' until this evening. That evidence contradicted Lieutenant Torres' assertion that you were in love with me, and so I gave her my analysis."

"Well, uh..." he stopped. Then he looked directly into her eyes. "You were mistaken, Seven."

Her eyes went wide. It was one thing to hear Lieutenant Torres, or even Lieutenant Paris, claim that Harry was in love with her. It was quite another to hear him say it. Sounding more unsure than she would have liked, she asked, "So you are in love with me, Harry?"

He took her hands into his. She had not been expecting this. She hadn't had much contact with other people's bodies, and certainly no contact in as tender a manner as with Harry's hands. It felt pleasurable. She had no urge to pull away.

"Yes, Seven, I am. I have been since the day we met. You were so alone, and so vulnerable, yet at the same time so strong an independent. You were a breath of fresh air. And I could tell that even underneath all that Borg armour, that there was a very pretty woman underneath." He kept looking straight at her as he said this. It was a struggle to maintain eye contact, and not to avert his gaze downward, but the assertive side of him he had been trying to show over the past six months paid off.

Seven smiled at that. "The day we first met, Harry, I beat you unconscious with a blow to the base of your skull. You were in love with me then?"

Harry chuckled. "Well, maybe 'love' is the wrong word for when that occurred, and when I first met you, but I certainly liked you. It became love shortly afterwards, though, I'm sure."

In a very low voice, she asked him, "When did you know you loved me?"

Harry took in a deep breath. "Honestly, Seven - that night in the mess hall. When I asked you to see the Ktarian moonrise with me. That's when I knew I loved you."

Seven was extremely surprised at this. She had hoped she wouldn't need to discuss the evening with him - it obviously made him very uncomfortable - but she had to know. So she took the risk that he wouldn't leave the room, and asked, "But you said you weren't in love with me! You didn't want to copulate!"

Harry shook his head. "Seven, you're making the old 'sex equals love' mistake. It doesn't."

"But love is often used to describe - "

Harry cut her off. "It's a different use of the word love than I'm using. I'm talking about romantic love. I'm talking about caring for, and longing to spend time with someone. I'm talking about a feeling of oneness, of being a half of a whole unit. I'm talking about love in the sense of wanting to build a life with someone."

Seven looked confused. "You wish to spend your life with me, Harry?"

Harry paused before answering, "In all honestly, Seven, yes. Someday I'd like that. When and if you're ever ready." Another pause. "Seven -"

"You never said how you knew you were in love with me, Harry," she interrupted.

Another deep breath. "When you asked me to copulate, all I could think of was that it would be using you. That you would later resent me taking advantage of your ignorance about human sexuality. That by having sex with you then, I would be ruining any chances to have anything lasting with you.

"Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't just have sex with anyone that way. But when I realized that I didn't back away just because it was the right thing to do, but because I didn't want to ruin any long-term chances with you, that's when I knew I was in love with you." He looked at her hopefully.

"It is a very confusing method of thinking," she said. "I can see the logic in it, however." She continued her questioning.

There was something else she needed to know. It had been nagging her ever since her talk with Lieutenant Paris the night before. "Why are you in love with me, Harry?"

Harry thought about this for a moment before answering. "Well, a number of reasons. The easiest to see is that you're extraordinarily beautiful - "

"You think I am beautiful, Harry?" She found that hard to believe. She knew that he found her physically attractive - his pupils and respiration when he looked at her told her that. But she had been around humans enough to know there was a difference between attractiveness and beauty. Borg drones, even former drones, did not usually fall within the standard human definition of beauty.

Harry shook his head at this. "Seven, you are the most beautiful woman on the ship. At least as far as I'm concerned. You have a stunning body, a lovely face, and your Borg implants just serve to accentuate that. You also have an air of confidence and grace about you that only adds to the effect. You're actually the most beautiful woman I have ever met - and I've met some very attractive ones.

"Your beauty isn't the only thing that makes my love you, though. It's not even the main one. I love your strength and independence, your drive and determination. I love your confidence in yourself. I love your intelligence. I love the wonder you show in your new individuality, even if you do try and hide it, and hide your emotions. I also love your sense of humour, which I'm proud to have been the first one to see.

He went on. "A lot of what I love about you is how you relate to me. I love that I can talk to you about technical problems longer than I can with anyone else. I love that I seem to be the first one you want to work with on any problem. I love that you trust me, and feel comfortable around me. And I love that fact that you smile around me, more than anyone else.

"Finally, what I love about you is that you're unique. A lot of people want you to become more human, but I just want you to be able to experience your humanity. I don't want you to become more or less anything. Your Borg past is part of what makes you unique, and thus part of what I love about you. Don't get me wrong - I don't love the Borg Collective. But the one former member of it that I'm with at the moment, I do love, especially in the state she's in, of being human as well as part Borg. It's what makes you *you*.

"Even if I could, I don't think I'd change a thing about you. Well, not really anything," he said smiling. "You've always said that the Borg strive for perfection. I honestly think that you, Seven, have come as close as they could get. There's always room for improvement, of course, but not much with you, I don't think.

"That's why I love you."

Seven was speechless. She had no idea what to say. What Harry said to her was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard. The only way she could think of to react to it was one she had seen certain crewmembers used occasionally.

She wrapped her arms around him, and took him into a fierce hug. "That is so beautiful, Harry. Thank you." She closed her eyes, and could feel moisture coming from her eyes. Tears.

Harry was in heaven. Feeling her warm body enveloped in his arms was something he had dreamed about many times. His dreams were usually more sexual than this, but this was sweet in a way he thought he would never experience again after Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Still hugging her, he asked, "Well, Seven, I've done all the talking thus far. How do you feel about me?"

She pulled out of the hug, and looked at him. "Harry... when I'm with you, I feel comfortable in a way I don't with anyone else. I look forward to working together, and I have looked forward to our meals together recently. When you stopped talking to me, I felt an emptiness I hadn't since I was separated from the collective."

"I'm so sorry, Seven," he said sincerely. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

She continued despite his interruption. "You were the first on the ship to befriend me. You always treat me fairly, even when I am impolite or rude to you. After the fight with B'Elanna was the first time you were not."

"Seven-"

She held a finger to his lips. "You care about me, Harry, in a way that no one ever has. I don't feel as strongly for you as you do for me- "

Harry looked crestfallen at this. Seven continued anyway.

"- but I do have feelings for you." Harry brightened immediately at that. "I would like to explore them with you, Harry. I believe the term for what I would like is 'dating'."

He smiled the warmest smile she had ever seen on his face at her. Considering the warmth of the smiles he usually gave her, that was quite an achievement. She smiled back - a smile so wide that she showed her teeth, something, Harry had never before seen on her.

"Oh, Seven," he said taking her hands in his, and beginning to stroke the backs of her hands with his thumbs. Her right hand immediately relaxed under the attentions of his left thumb, but as he began to stroke her Borg hardware on her left hand, she pulled the hand back.

"I'm sorry Seven, did that hurt you?" He was immediately regretful he'd done that without asking what kind of reaction he would get.

"I am undamaged, Harry. It was a reflex action. I am unused to being touched there - the Borg do not touch one another, and no one has rubbed the back my hand since I joined Voyager."

"It tickled, perhaps?" Harry said, trying to help her along.

"Yes, that is likely it." She smiled, and he took her hand again. He tried stroking the hardware again, and this time, her urge to pull back was less, and soon she got used to it. Yes, she could like this a lot...

"What do you think of holding hands, Seven?" He asked her.

"It is very... pleasurable. It is inefficient, however, from a biological standpoint. Why would holding hands be a necessary step for procreation?"

Harry was a little flustered by that. "Well, I supposed it's probably not biologically necessary, although pleasure is designed to encourage living organisms to do what is biologically necessary. I suppose the pleasure from touching one another's hands is meant to lead to... pleasure in other ways."

"You mean copulation," she said.

"Yes, I suppose. Anyway, even if it's biologically inefficient, holding hands is culturally quite important. Especially if you want to show affection in public, which I'm going to want to."

"Ah. Marking you territory."

He sighed. "Partly that, Seven. But mostly just to show you I care."

"That could be done just as easily with verbal communication," she countered.

"Oh, possibly. But isn't my doing this," he stroked her Borg-enhanced left hand again, "a more effective means of showing you that I love the whole Seven, not just the human bits, as telling you?"

Seven considered this. "Yes, I suppose it is. Most people are afraid of my Borg hardware. You are showing that you are not. I had not thought of physical contact as another form of communication."

He smiled. "See? You're learning about relationships already. Another example. What's a more effective way of saying I love you. Verbally, or this." With that he leaned forward and met her full lips with his, giving her a gentle, tender, lingering kiss.

After he pulled away, she said, "Yes, I see your point, Harry. Would you care to demonstrate other examples?" She had a gleam in her eye that could only come from one thing - lust.

Part of him wanted to 'demonstrate' right then and there; the woman beside him was so damned beautiful, and looked eager, but the rational part of his mind, the part that turned down her offer to copulate a year ago, was in control.

Summoning his reserves of self-control, he said, "Sometime, Seven, but I think we should take it slow, at least here in the beginning of our 'dating' relationship. We have lots of time, if you want to, but let's take it slow so far. When we're sure we love each other - then we'll see."

She sighed. "Very well, Harry." She leaned in for another kiss, this one open mouthed. The interplay of their tongues as they kissed was ample demonstration of the principle Harry had talked about, as well as being extremely pleasurable, but Seven knew that would be the limit for now. She didn't particularly mind, although a part of her had the urge to rip Harry's shirt right off of him and pounce on him. She too had to exercise self-control.

They broke apart after what seemed like an eternity. Gazing at his companion, Harry asked, "I have to know, Seven. Why the silver outfit tonight? I thought that was only a healing outfit for the beginning."

She smiled. "It was originally, but I had the Doctor alter it today. I told him I wanted another clothing option."

"Is that why you wore it? Another option?"

This time she broke into another toothy grin. "No, I wore it because I noticed that when I wore this outfit, your pupils dilated more than either of my other two suits."

"You wanted to impress me?" Harry asked.

She nodded, still smiling.

"It worked."

She settled back on the couch, and he wrapped his left arm around her. "What happens next, Harry?"

"Well, Seven, we talk. Get to know each other better. And we go on more dates. I'd really like to get to you try a few holodeck adventures with me."

"Holodeck adventures are irrelevant," she answered instinctively.

"Ah, but that's what you would have said about pleasure yesterday, or romance a year ago. You have to give things a chance, Seven. If you still find it irrelevant afterwards, that's fair. But you have to try, first," he said, looking intently at her.

"Very well."

They sat together on the couch in each others arms for a few minutes in silence.

"So Seven," Harry asked, "what was it like being in the Collective? Tell me about your time as a Borg."

Seven turned to him, surprised. "I find most people are horrified when I speak of my time with the Borg, Harry. Are you sure you want to hear?"

"I want to know all about you, Seven. Your years with the Borg are an important part of who you are. I'd like to hear about them, if it's all right with you."

Seven was genuinely happy at this, and started touching his hand again. "Thank you, Harry. I have had no one to talk to about this since I came on board."

Harry smiled at his friend. "Well, if ever there's anything you'd like to talk about, no matter how irrelevant it seems, feel free to come to me. I'll always want to hear it."

She leaned over and gave him another kiss. Breaking free, she said, "Being Borg was like being part of something greater than yourself. But there is no 'self' in the Borg..."

The sat in each other's arms and talked well into the night about their lives, their pasts, and their hopes and dreams, getting to know each other well. It was well into the early hours of the morning before Seven left Harry's quarters to return to Cargo Bay 2, and each fell asleep with the satisfaction of knowing with absolute certainty that someone out there really cared about them.

All in all, it had been the best day in either of their lives.

The first of many such best days.

* * *

Finis.

* * *

_[Author's Terminal Note: As I said, I wrote this in 1998, in the beginning of Season 5. At that point, the Kim/Seven pairing, while obviously being de-emphasised in comparison to Season 4, was still a possibility, at least in my mind if not in those of The Powers That Were. This was before the Derran Tal in "The Disease", and before the Seven/Doctor pairing, which became so popular (although it never did much for me, being a K/7 shipper). __Obviously this story isn't canon, and was superseded by events. This troubles me far less in 2014 than it did in 1999, before I got supremely dissatisfied with the show in the second half of Season 5, especially in comparison with Deep Space Nine, which was (and remains) my favourite Star Trek series._

_Anyway, hopefully you've enjoyed this story I rescued from the memory hole. It's not exactly what I'd write now - it's so very earnest - but I think it holds up well enough for something I wrote while trying to avoid studying for the LSAT. Thanks for reading.]_


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